Millionaire Fair Moscow – Summer 2009

Held in Moscow for the first time, the Summer Fair is a smaller version of the giant luxury market, the Millionaire Fair.

“It’s definitely smaller, but the level of the participants is higher,” said Yelena Kudozova, the managing director of the Millionaire Fair. She listed carmakers McClaren and jewelry brand Piaget as examples.

Highlighting the exclusivity of the event, the fair was held at the Royal Bar yacht club on the bank of the Moscow River near Vodny Stadion metro station.
The club has sand imported from the Maldives on an artificial beach.

The items on sale ranged from a relatively affordable but rare Serval kitten, at a mere $15,000, to a fantastically expensive wedding dress that will set you back more than $1 million.

Other goods on sale at the fair included a Mercedes fitted out with television screens, fridge, bar and a PlayStation for 165,000 euros ($230,000) and a sleek Ferrari F430 Stealth Limited for 280,000 euros.

Traders said there’s still a market for high-end luxury goods, crisis or no crisis.

Kudozova called the fair “very, very attractive to well-to-do Russian people.”

“People who earn a lot are now just earning a bit less, but they’re still earning,” Barinov said.